Feeding and conveying apparatus



April 22', 1930. E. J. WATZL FEEDING AND CCNVEYING APPARATUS Original Filed Oct 25. 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR April 22, 1930. E. J. WATZL 1,755,6148

FEEDING AND CONVEYING APPARATUS Original Fi led Oct. 25; 1925. 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 lNVENTOR E. J. WATZL FEEDING AND CONVEYING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-sheaf 5 Original Filed Oct. 25, 1925 INVEINTOR RNEY April 22, 1930.

PatenteclApr. 22, 1930 v NITED STATES" Qriginal' application I filed oetoper 23,

A TE" ZOFFHC ERNST J. WATZL, or EAST etnvnrnnnmnio; Martin 0. wAmzL rnusrnn non SAID ERNST J. we'ran urssme, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF ro HERMAN J. TRENKA-MEP,

or CLEVELAND HEIGHTS,- OHIO runn ng nn CONVEYING Armenian-mus. Y

turn cooperating with the said appliance a series of superposed endless conveyors, over some of which heatedairisdirected and over others a cooling air current. Various details of 'constructionmay also be novel, but they are hereinafter explained. I I realize that the scope of my invention comprehends 'many equivalent methods "and I constructions. The showingof the drawings and the particular description are merely specific exemplifications of aplurahty, or mechanical embodiments and arrangements.

Ad-Verting to the drawings: Figure I is a verticallongitudinal section through apparatus embodying my invention. 7

FigureII is an end elevation on lineIIII of Figure I partlylin section. I

Figure III is a frag entary plan on line III-'1II'I of Figure I. e

Figure IV is an enlargement of aportion of Figure III. Y

Figure V is a of FigureIV.

Figure VI is an enlarged of distributing mechanism, also shown in the upper right hand corner of Figure I.

Figure VII is a' still further enlarged View. of a portion of FigureVI.

Figure VIII is a fragmentary elevationon line VIIL-VIII of Figure VII, omitting a showing of the salt to be dried.

A. suitable insulated chamber .1 provided section cross-section on line V-V at one end with double glass windows 2, at

its other end with doors Q and in its side wall with hinged doors 2 all for an obvious pur- 1e25,.se ia1 1%. seem; rivma and this application filed October 19, 1925. .seriarnai eyiz I pose. The top of thechamber near one end is provided with an air outlet '3 and the b0ttomf-of thesame end of the chamber'is prov ded w th an outleti i through which material, after having been distributed, redand' dried, is to be discharged. Alongside of the air outlet 3 and toward the near end of the chamber is 'a hopper 5 communicating with the chamber and adapted to receive the moist material which is to be treated during passage through' my apparatus.

1 Distributing mecham'sm Appropriately mounted in bearings 6 at the topof' the chamber'l, so as to extend across the s'onie'whatlargerlower end of the hopper 5, is ashaft 7 carrying a squared section 8 on which fixed a wooden drum 9. The drum 9is shown as cylindrical in form with its periphery covered by a metallic cylinder 10. "A plurality of spikes 11 are driven radially through the cylinder l0.an,d into the drum, as shown inFigures VI and'VIiI, and preferably are arranged as a series of circumferential rows, the rows being disposed in substantially. parallel radial planes, as shown in Figure VIII. The spikes 11 projeot corresponding distances beyond the'per ph y of he me a l cyl er a 'din' t a distance to; be determinedby the relative. 1; sizes of thedrum and lower end ofthe hopper and the character of the material'which is to be distributed through the hopper: It should be understood that the materi'al'to be dried is moist enough .to have the tendency to pack, and, during the rotation of the drum in the directionindicated by the arrow in Figure VI, will be sufficiently compressed between the surface of the drumand the approached wall of the'hopper 'so that it will adhere to the drum as a layer, held together because ofthe embedding of the spikes and of a thickness determined by the closed permissible distance between the surface of the drum and'the wall of the hopper according to the extent of projection of the spikes. Adjustable about a rod 12 interiorly of the chamber andbelow the drum are a plurality of upstanding scraping'iingers 13' each adapted to project between a pair ofrows of spikes ll,v

hit;

as shown in Figures VI to VIII. Together the fingers l3 constitute a kind of comb adapted to scrape a varying thickness from thelayer of the material being carried around on the drum. The amount of material which the scraping fingers'13 will remove for gravitational fall is readily controlled by a rocking adjustment of therod 12 effected by means of a lever 14 havingits other end movable in a guide 15 and adapted to be fixed in any chosen position by means of a set screw 18.

One section 17 of thelower end of the hop-' per 5 is made adjustable toward and away from the drum, being pivoted at 18 and controllable as to position by means of-the actuating screw 19in a manner which will be readily understood upon scrutiny of these parts as shown in Figure VI. The purpose of the distributing mechanism, just described,

.is to control the supply of material to be treated so that it will be deposited asa substantially uniform layer upon a traveling apron as one unitof conveying'mechanism to be next described. f

Conveying mechanism As exemplified in the drawings, material scraped from the distributing drum Wlll. be

. caused to follow a zigzag course back and forth along the longitudinaldimension of the chamber 1. The conveying mechanism consists of six superposed endless conveyors, each comprising a pair of drums 20 mounted at the same elevation crosswise of the chamber and near opposite ends thereof respectively.

At each end of the. drums 20, sprockets 21 are mounted and surrounding each pair of drums, which comprises an individualcon veying unit, is an endless apron 22, shown composed of wire cloth. At regularintervals along both borders of the apronj22 I place a foldfof compressible material 23 through which, as well as through the apron 22, are passed a pair of bolts 2 1for securing the edges of the cloth to arms 25 projecting.

inwardly from two sprocket chains 26, as

shown in Figures IV and VI The chains 26 efficient performance of one principle of my invention. It will be observed that each conveying unit has one end projecting beyond an end'of an adjacent conveying unit, that adjacent conveying units travel in reversed directions according to the indicating arrow in Figure I and that the progressive delivery or gravitational discharge end of each conveying unit is set back with reference to the receiving end of an apron next below. In this manner the material to be treated is permitted gravitationally to fall from one apron to th one next below upon which it is to travel in the opposite direction lengthwise of thechamber.

Diam'ng'meoham'sm hiounted at the top of the chamber in suit able bearings 29, at one side of the hopper is a shaft 30 on one extremity of which are fast andloose pulleys 31/ The shaft 30 is formed witha worm 32, which drives a worm wheel 33, mounted on the shaft 7 on which latter is alsojfixed a gear 34, which' is in mesh with one of a series of six enmeshed gears 35, which are mounted on the near extremities of the six shafts of the drums 20. By this means adjacent pairs of the drums 20 are rotated in opposite directions and/the three alternatelylocated drums are rotated in the same direction,thereby causing the upper most apron surface to travel toward the farther end of the chamber and the lowermost eflective apron surface to travel in the opposite direction to the discharge opening 4. The conveyed material will be caused gravitationally to fall into the" next lower conveyorat alternately opposite ends, as illustratedin Figure I.

Drying agency gested by the dotted arrows between difi'erent conveyors. I consider it desirable and believe it likely to be novel to provide in the one chamber, not onlymeans for drying, by the use of heated air, but v also means for cooling. If the heat be absorbed from; dried salt crystals their tendency to cake will be counteracted. Having the objects just stated in mind, I provide'anexhaust duct 36 com municating with one end of the chamber above the second lowest conveyor which will act to circulate fresh cooling air through the inlet 37 over the lower conveyor toward the opposite end of the chamber and thence back over the second lowest conveyor into the duct 36 to the exhaust fan 38 which also forces it through a heating chamber 39 provided with an. inlet 40 and an outlet 41 for the heating elements. The heated air is conducted from the chamber 39 through a pipe 42 adapted to discharge over the third lowest of the conveyors. It may be observed that the .fourupper conveyors carry material to be subjected to heated air which is exhausted throughthe pipe 3, whereas the two lower conveyors carry material which is to be cooled vin transit preparatory to discharge through the outlet 4. Bafiles 20? extend diagonally from the drums 20 and baflles 22 along the aprons 22 to prevent the air currents following other than the zigzag course desired.

This application constitutes subject mat ter divided from my copending application filed October 23, 1925, Serial No. 64,330.

I claim: 1. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a hopper, a drum projecting into and also somewhat below said hopper for carrying a layer of moist material therefrom through its discharge end and two independently adjustable devices cooperating with said drum for controlling the measure of discharge of material into said chamber one of scribed opposed arcs and cooperating to control the measure of discharge of material from one side of said drum, one of said devices determining the depth ofthe layer adhering to said drum and the other device determining the depth of said layer to be dislodged.

3. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of an upright hopper, a drum for continuously carrying a layer of moist material in said hopper toward its lower discharge end, said drumcarrying circumferential rows of separated radially rojecting spikes, pivotally mounted scraping lingers extending between adjacent rows of said proj ections at the bottom of said drums for controlling the measure of discharge of material from said drum and an adjustable hopper wall section opposed to the downwardly traveling side of said drum and means for simultaneously controlling the position of said fin-' gers. V v v a. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a chamber, a hopper above and having its lower discharge end communieating with said chamber, a cylindrical drum rotatably mounted across said hopper for continuously carrying moist material in said hopper as a layer toward its discharge end, said drum carrying projections, a scraping finger located in said chamber and mounted for-adjustable movement toward andaway from said drum and between said projections for controlling the measure of dlscharge of material from said drum,pivotallyhung hopper section located above and just ahead of said finger with reference to the direction of v rhscharge of materlal from said hopper for controlling the depth of the layer of material I carried by said drum toward said scraping finger and means for adjustably fixing the position of said hopper section.

' Signed by me, this 7th day of July, 1926.

ERNST J. WATZL. 

